Turn the Tables on Child Hunger and #ShareAMeal

I’ve talked about childhood hunger in America before, and I’ll talk about it again and again. Hunger’s youngest victims are too often invisible to us, yet the reality is that 1 in 5 children (16 million — that’s the population of Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago combined) aren’t sure when or from where they’ll get their next meal.

These hungry littles — they’re our neighbors and our children’s friends. They look just like us, so it may never cross our minds that they’re food insecure. But too many are.

This short documentary Going to Bed Hungry: The Changing Face of Child Hunger was just released this week from Unilever Project Sunlight, and it reveals the power and a promise of a shared meal for families across America.

I’m happy to be partnering with Unilever Project Sunlight to encourage people to get involved and help turn the tables on childhood hunger – by taking small steps to live sustainably, using less and sharing even more.

There’s a fantastic tool kit on Project Sunlight website with super simple but impactful ideas on how to #ShareAMeal and raise awareness. I highly encourage you to take a look because something as simple as packing a lunch for a neighborhood child makes a difference.

I’d love if you’d help me raise awareness and share the Going to Bed Hungry video with your community. I’ve embedded it in a tweet, so a simple retweet of my message below will help spread the #ShareAMeal message.

More posts like this:

About Liz

Liz is an adventurous midwestern mom gone southern (accent in transition). She lives in North Carolina and loves cooking, baking, traveling, movies, crafts, wine, pizza and the occasional nap. She's also a cat lady in the making. Email her at liz@eatmovemake.com

This is so important! The price of groceries just seem to get higher every day, never thought I’d see a canister of oatmeal cost $4, so the Share a Meal Project does make sense. I do have to wonder, is the Obama Administration adding extra regulations that is driving up food prices? I emailed this question to the DNC and the USDA, but they refused to comment.

I had not heard of Unilever Sunlight Share a Meal until now. Thank you for sharing this important message and information. I have retweeted your Tweet to help spread the word about the #ShareAMeal message.

I love this program-I heard about it a couple of days ago and was looking at more information about it. This is definitely an amazing cause though-no child should ever go hungry, it’s just not acceptable.

What a great program! I don’t do anything right now to feed the hungry and I wish that I did. I have worked projects in the past and enjoyed it. Since I’ve had kids I’ve gotten out of helping. I need to get back into it.

It is so important that we help and share with others less fortunate now more then ever, so many are out of jobs and or homeless anything you can do to help is greatly needed, I donate to a local food pantry and if ever I can raise enough funds would one day like to open one in my home town that will stay open 24/7 as the one we have now is open 1 day per week, to me that is not right, there are hungry people 24/7 and i would welcome them all with open arms and open shelves. Thank you

My nephews are in this category, unfortunately. Their mom and dad are too proud to ask for help but I know there are many days when they just don’t have the money to buy dinner. I help as much as I can – taking meals to them, inviting the boys over, etc. I “accidentally” buy the wrong kind of cereal for my kids and send that to them. Their mom was able to get a little help from food stamps,, but then my brother got a slight raise at work, and they took the fodstamps away. Once rent is paid, oil is purchased for heat/hot water utilities are taken care of, etc – there is often no money left over for groceries. It hurts my heart to see them struggle like this. I’m ot financially well off myself, and I do try to help as much as possible, but there does need to be greater awareness in our communities. Thank you for taking up this cause. You have inspired me to do the same.

this is a great program and it’s nice that they are promoting awareness of something that is very prevalent in our society…food insecurity and hunger-here in the US. Working for a social services agency in town, I see this alot, and it’s very sad.

What a great thing! It breaks my heart that anyone would ever go hungry….but in this country….it shouldn’t even be an option…especially for a child! Thank you for bringing awareness to a really important, critical situation!

It’s great of you to do this as often as possible. Good way to spread the word. I can’t believe those numbers! That’s 20%! It makes me cry to see children hungry and know that while restaurants everywhere throw away tons and tons of food, there are people starving around the world. It’s really sad. I think we as bloggers should do a little more of this and really spread this around. Thank you for such a reminder and what a great company.

I retweeted your tweet because this is a cause very near to my heart. When it’s my turn to volunteer at the sharing center at the church? I always feel guilty I can’t give people more food to take home. Even thought it’s not my food or my rules. I just want everyone to have enough to eat.

Kudos to Unilever Project Sunlight for helping those in need. I love programs like this because they are so needed more than people realize. Kudos to you for sharing and for getting awareness out there.

It is definitely a cause worth talking about again and again. I cannot even imagine… and so any small part (or big part) we can do to help, is a good thing. I love that you’re helping spread the word, and the awareness.

I really enjoyed watching this video, it is so heartwarming. We really do need to waste less here in N. America. There was a potluck dinner tonight at my daughter’s school, and the simplicity of each family bringing just one dish, while the adults intermingled and the children tried new foods, and everyone left feeling full … I wish we could all do this much more often.

That is so great that you are a part of this! I couldn’t even imagine being so hungry and having nothing to eat. It makes me so sad. There are some little things we can all do to make it so they do have something to eat.

Homelessness and hunger have always my top two charity areas. It is easy for someone to feel overwhelmed or powerless to help. But there are sooo many small things people can do. I am so glad you are helping to point out what these things are!

There are many street children here in the city and I hate it to think that their parents don’t care about them enough to give them proper education and a good life. It’s great that people there are considerate in helping them survive through hunger.

I don’t think its that parents don’t care. That may be the case for some children, but in places like the Philippines, it is often a case of cycled poverty. Low education in general, lack of education on sex or access to birth control can often have low income families finding themselves in impossible positions. Add to that the lack of government programs, the rising costs of housing and goods that comes with the influx of expats, along with a growing middle class can all wreak havoc on the those already struggling!

I hope you are supporting the programs that are helping the street kids! My friend Marc Nelson has one he supports that you may be interested in: Virlanie Foundation for street children

Everyday we waste so much food it is unimaginable. I retweeted your message as I think it is a very important one. Childhood hunger is so much more important to focus on than some of the other things in the media today.

My mom and her siblings didn’t have much growing up. On many occasions they went to bed hungry. All of the siblings vowed to turn their life around when they got older and that they did. But, the memories will never be forgotten. A few years ago, my uncle started making sandwiches on Sunday mornings and then driving into town and handing them out to the homeless men and women. Our family and friends got involved shortly after. We not only make breakfast, we make lunch as well. While I don’t mind donating to charities that want to help fight hunger, there is something special about actually making a meal and handing it directly to someone in need. There are no words to describe that feeling.

YES – this is totally true. I am a teacher and have had many, many students who depend on the school lunch because it might be the only food they get that day. We help when we know — but there are so many who don’t tell us.

I just shared your tweet and will certainly be going to that site to find out more. I am very much aware of the problem of child hunger in the United States. It angers me to think that here something like this should be going on.

It saddens me to think of any child going to bed hungry! Here in our community, we have a program that feeds kids in the summer (when they usually get free lunch at school), but maybe there is more that we can do.

Most of my area is so low income that most of the food pantries are in schools so that they can provide kids with things that they cane at when they aren’t in school. It’s so sad that it still happens, but especially so right in our own back yards

We’re getting ready to get a donation together for one of our local soup kitchens that sees a lot of children come through. It breaks my heart. We take in things like fruit cupcs, pudding cups, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, and fruit snacks – things they don’t get otherwise.

We used to have kids living in our neighborhood that I fed every single day because their parents were never home and did not cook them anything. It broke my heart. They basically stayed at my house all during the summer and only went home to sleep. I did my best to take care of them. Childhood hunger is so real in so many neighborhoods — some you wouldn’t even expect.

Disclosure

Eat Move Make is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com.

This means that some posts may contain affiliate links. We earn a small commission when you purchase through these links, which helps us create more great content! Full terms of use here.